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Old 27-10-2009, 10:21 PM
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Hedgehoggy Hedgehoggy is offline
Commander of the Wild Empire
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: West Yorkshire
Posts: 1,342
Re: My new rescue hog

Glad to hear they're both same-sexed So long as they have a choice of feeding stations and their own accommodation to retreat to, things should be fine - just keep an eye out for any constant butting/rolling each other around your garden! Regular weigh-ins will alert you if one hog isn't feeding as it should be.

Hogs, especially males, can and do roam up to distances of 2km per night, but disabled hogs kept in enclosed safe gardens with a constant supply of good food and weatherproof shelter adapt very well. I’m really not sure how many disabled hogs you’d be able to house in your garden, that question really is one for St Tiggy’s, unless one of our other hog rehabilitators on this forum with permanent residents is able to answer that for you.

As your hogs are permanent residents in your enclosed garden, and there is no worry of them running off if disturbed, I see no reason why you can’t initially weigh them during daylight hours until/if they go into hibernation – it would be much easier for you to check the hog over, as well as his house/bedding during daylight. This practice is no different to what I (or indeed other carers) do with the hogs in temp care (N.B. I would never deliberately disturb one of the wild hogs sleeping in a hog house in my garden unless I had good reason to). As winter approaches, and you notice the hogs tightly packing in more and more bedding into their houses, then don’t disturb them at all, just wait for them to appear (if at all) at night to quickly catch and weigh them.

At weigh-in sessions, take a cardboard box/similar along with the weighing scales, to place the hog in when weighing and keep hog secure in the box while you check/change his bedding, then return hoggy immediately back into his house.

You mentioned you have an almost white hedgehog, is it a ‘blonde’ hedgehog per chance? I’d be very interested to see a pic of your hog if you could post a pic here

[P.S. My last post should have read ‘If they’re hibernating, your hand will either be greeted with a very slight bristling of spines, or a hiss! = very slight movement of spines at point of contact.]
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